Gathering them from the East: God's Timing#links
This is an awesome post from a fellow blogger and adoptive mother (already adopted and also in waiting). It is so hard to imagine why we have all the delays. She figured it out in this post and it is amazing how God worked it all together for good!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
A Lost Little Angel
Another little angel from Reece's Rainbow was lost today. She never knew a family's love. She spent her whole life ALONE. Even though she was among many, she was alone because she never belonged to anyone. Imagine never knowing love and never having a family!
I just don't understand. Where are God's hands and feet? What are the Christians of our world doing while these children die alone? How does each one justify doing nothing? I am often told that I can't "save them all". I realize that. Another DIED ALONE. My heart is broken as I imagine how it may have happened. How alone she probably was does my whole earth shake! God said that what we do unto the least of these we do unto Him. Look what happened to Him. Yes, it like we did it to Him! He was alone, unloved, and in need and our world turned its back.
As children sit in mental institutions today, it is like we do it to HIM. He made them (perfectly by the way!), He loves them, He told us to take care of them, and it is like unto Him. We are neglecting our duty as Christians. As a result, Christians are missing out. They don't know the blessings of doing God's will. Sure it is HARD. What blessing doesn't come through hard work??? God said to do it and I pity those who will stand before Him and have done nothing to help the children. We are doing it unto Him. Christians are letting these children die out of pure refusal to live for Him. He died for us and Christians everywhere sit back and get comfy in their seats while His gifts to us and His instructions to us so to DO SOMETHING.
I just don't understand. Where are God's hands and feet? What are the Christians of our world doing while these children die alone? How does each one justify doing nothing? I am often told that I can't "save them all". I realize that. Another DIED ALONE. My heart is broken as I imagine how it may have happened. How alone she probably was does my whole earth shake! God said that what we do unto the least of these we do unto Him. Look what happened to Him. Yes, it like we did it to Him! He was alone, unloved, and in need and our world turned its back.
As children sit in mental institutions today, it is like we do it to HIM. He made them (perfectly by the way!), He loves them, He told us to take care of them, and it is like unto Him. We are neglecting our duty as Christians. As a result, Christians are missing out. They don't know the blessings of doing God's will. Sure it is HARD. What blessing doesn't come through hard work??? God said to do it and I pity those who will stand before Him and have done nothing to help the children. We are doing it unto Him. Christians are letting these children die out of pure refusal to live for Him. He died for us and Christians everywhere sit back and get comfy in their seats while His gifts to us and His instructions to us so to DO SOMETHING.
She is gone. Many more WAIT. They won't wait forever either. They will end up in the same lonely death without His people doing something. There are many things that each of us can do. Adoption is the thing they need most. If you meet the qualifications to adopt and can love a child, then I dare you to pray and ask Him. I doubt He will tell you "no". If you can't adopt then post their pictures to help them find families, give to their adoption funds, help people who can adopt pay the "ransom" to get them home. Advocate, pray, give adopt! Children dying while people sit back and try not to look is not acceptable.
Here is her picture. Look at her and do your best to make her be the last to die so needlessly.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
A Little Stressed
There is so much to do right now. My head stays in so many places. I can't stop thinking about our little boy in Texas and wondering when he will get home. His foster mother isn't responding to any of the emails with pictures that she asked me to send. We mailed him a picture collage, so I guess we'll see what happens.
The kids in Eastern Europe keep me praying most certainly. They are definitely in God's hands. I have to try to leave that request at His feet instead of picking it up and worrying about it. It is so hard to go through days knowing that some are living in mental institutions and none are in a family receiving love. It is hard to imagine children not receiving love, not ever living in a family, or not even knowing what "family" is really.
Here we are trying to rush through everything we can here. We had two kids with doctors appts today for paperwork for our homestudy. Two go tomorrow. Two more go on Monday. That will have all of the appointments done. Our fingerprints for the agency who is doing our homestudy are all back.
One problem seems to be references. I handed out a few extra forms. We still need 3 more turned back in though. I always hate to ask people about references when they don't turn them in. I always wonder if maybe they don't want to do them. I know that most people think we are CRAZY at this point. I do realize that most people do not have 12 kids. I also realize that most people wouldn't take on 5 kids in one year. I even more realize that the number "17" as the number of children that someone willing has makes people's heads spin. Most people seem to understand once they get to know us. People who have known me for years seem to have expected this type of undertaking for me. They knew that I always wanted a large family. They also knew that I always wanted to adopt. I really need references though. I guess I am going to hand out more and ask people whose haven't been received yet.
We are waiting for the paperwork to come from the country right now. At that point we will fill out the formal commitments for their country. We will send in a check for $3500 to the international agency that we are using. We will then have to wait for our homestudy to be completed. At that point we will be needed another good sized sum of money to go the next steps. I'm not exactly sure where that amount is coming from yet. I am trying to remember that God has it figured out already. He does, I'm sure of it! I have asked for emails from Him during other adoptions, so I know He probably still won't send me one to let me know how this all works out. I am sure though that He is going to work it out.
We'd appreciate your prayers for all of these things. You might even pray that God takes it easy on me and lets me know before I really stress. Then again, I guess I should try to remain calm in all these things since I do KNOW He has it under control. Paper pregnancy hormones times 5 are doing me in!
The kids in Eastern Europe keep me praying most certainly. They are definitely in God's hands. I have to try to leave that request at His feet instead of picking it up and worrying about it. It is so hard to go through days knowing that some are living in mental institutions and none are in a family receiving love. It is hard to imagine children not receiving love, not ever living in a family, or not even knowing what "family" is really.
Here we are trying to rush through everything we can here. We had two kids with doctors appts today for paperwork for our homestudy. Two go tomorrow. Two more go on Monday. That will have all of the appointments done. Our fingerprints for the agency who is doing our homestudy are all back.
One problem seems to be references. I handed out a few extra forms. We still need 3 more turned back in though. I always hate to ask people about references when they don't turn them in. I always wonder if maybe they don't want to do them. I know that most people think we are CRAZY at this point. I do realize that most people do not have 12 kids. I also realize that most people wouldn't take on 5 kids in one year. I even more realize that the number "17" as the number of children that someone willing has makes people's heads spin. Most people seem to understand once they get to know us. People who have known me for years seem to have expected this type of undertaking for me. They knew that I always wanted a large family. They also knew that I always wanted to adopt. I really need references though. I guess I am going to hand out more and ask people whose haven't been received yet.
We are waiting for the paperwork to come from the country right now. At that point we will fill out the formal commitments for their country. We will send in a check for $3500 to the international agency that we are using. We will then have to wait for our homestudy to be completed. At that point we will be needed another good sized sum of money to go the next steps. I'm not exactly sure where that amount is coming from yet. I am trying to remember that God has it figured out already. He does, I'm sure of it! I have asked for emails from Him during other adoptions, so I know He probably still won't send me one to let me know how this all works out. I am sure though that He is going to work it out.
We'd appreciate your prayers for all of these things. You might even pray that God takes it easy on me and lets me know before I really stress. Then again, I guess I should try to remain calm in all these things since I do KNOW He has it under control. Paper pregnancy hormones times 5 are doing me in!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Progress!
The fire inspector just left! I had a horrible time getting in touch with him, but after we did he came out very quickly. We have our form to give to the agency that shows we have been approved by the fire inspector. Not much to do for the homestudy now!
We have some more doctor's visits over the next week or so. Those forms should be filled out completely before February hits! Very glad about that. :)
Our social worker has come for two visits already. She has all the info at this point. She will make her last visit this week. She can finish our safety audit at that visit. She couldn't sign off on the safety audit until we had the fire inspection. She is working on writing up the homestudy now, so it should be done soon. So excited to be almost done with our home study.
I also talked to the lady at About A Child yesterday. She is approving our application with the homestudy. We should have our commitment money for the agency and the country in the mail this time next week along with the paperwork that goes with it. We still have a very long way to go, but at least we are moving forward!
We have some more doctor's visits over the next week or so. Those forms should be filled out completely before February hits! Very glad about that. :)
Our social worker has come for two visits already. She has all the info at this point. She will make her last visit this week. She can finish our safety audit at that visit. She couldn't sign off on the safety audit until we had the fire inspection. She is working on writing up the homestudy now, so it should be done soon. So excited to be almost done with our home study.
I also talked to the lady at About A Child yesterday. She is approving our application with the homestudy. We should have our commitment money for the agency and the country in the mail this time next week along with the paperwork that goes with it. We still have a very long way to go, but at least we are moving forward!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Notice Someone New??
I hope you noticed another beautiful little girl on the right hand side of the page! Yes, Anjelina was listed yesterday. She is in the same area as Nicholas and Ahnja. We are thrilled to add her as our 4th child from Eastern Europe. She is just gorgeous! She is 5 years old and running around. Last reports say she isn't talking yet, but is making sounds and saying syllables. I can see her and Julianne getting into lots of mischief together. God is blessing and we are so excited to bring them home as soon as we can. It is hard to imagine that we have lots of months to go and yet we are already so in love with those little faces.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Helplessness
We have been adopting for years. We adopted our first child in 2001(and give birth to a little boy 6wks later). Since then we have adopted 10 more children. We have one more on the way via the foster/adoption route. Now we are committed to adopting 3 from Eastern Europe and hoping to adopt one additional child from there as well.
I am getting ready to go check on my youngest daughter. Julianne is 4 (just a few months younger than Paula) years old. She also has Down Syndrome. She is so tiny (but Paula was smaller at the last known time). I go in to check on her and see her cute button nose before I got to bed each night.
When I go in to check on her I can't help but think of the children around the world that don't have her life. Julianne is spoiled beyond belief by 11 older siblings. We all cater to her whims and tell her of her "wonderfulness". She is adored! Yet, there are children who haven't been out of their beds today. Julianne is always excited to get in her's at night, but Paula has likely not been out of hers. I'm sure that no one is heading in to look at how wonderful my other three are tonight. No one even knows how wonderful they are. It really is heartbreaking as a mother to wonder if your children are ok. Did anyone smile at them today? Did anyone give them a treat? Did anyone tell them that they are wonderfully special? When you think about how helpless you are to do anything for them today, it is heartbreaking.
God is good. He loved them before I knew they existed. He has moved mountains to make us able to adopt them. Once they get here, we will make sure that they know how wonderfully special they are. We will give them the life that they deserve and a loving family who adores them as well.
It is amazing the longing and love that God places in the heart of a mommy long before she holds her babies in her arms. First God places them in her heart and then later in her arms.
I am getting ready to go check on my youngest daughter. Julianne is 4 (just a few months younger than Paula) years old. She also has Down Syndrome. She is so tiny (but Paula was smaller at the last known time). I go in to check on her and see her cute button nose before I got to bed each night.
When I go in to check on her I can't help but think of the children around the world that don't have her life. Julianne is spoiled beyond belief by 11 older siblings. We all cater to her whims and tell her of her "wonderfulness". She is adored! Yet, there are children who haven't been out of their beds today. Julianne is always excited to get in her's at night, but Paula has likely not been out of hers. I'm sure that no one is heading in to look at how wonderful my other three are tonight. No one even knows how wonderful they are. It really is heartbreaking as a mother to wonder if your children are ok. Did anyone smile at them today? Did anyone give them a treat? Did anyone tell them that they are wonderfully special? When you think about how helpless you are to do anything for them today, it is heartbreaking.
God is good. He loved them before I knew they existed. He has moved mountains to make us able to adopt them. Once they get here, we will make sure that they know how wonderfully special they are. We will give them the life that they deserve and a loving family who adores them as well.
It is amazing the longing and love that God places in the heart of a mommy long before she holds her babies in her arms. First God places them in her heart and then later in her arms.
I CAN TELL!
We are finally on the Reece's Rainbow "New Commitment" page! That means I can finally share my news with the world. I am going to be Paula, Nicholas, and Ahnja's mommy! Such a blessing! Our family bio isn't on the page yet, but our names are. God is so AMAZING!
Here is a link to our page on Reece's Rainbow (remember our bio isn't there yet and two of the kids' pictures aren't showing up, but it is still THERE!):
http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorunroe
Here is a link to our page on Reece's Rainbow (remember our bio isn't there yet and two of the kids' pictures aren't showing up, but it is still THERE!):
http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorunroe
Monday, January 10, 2011
Our Worker Came Today
I have to say that I love our agency that is doing our homestudy! We were in the first group of 10 families to go through training in 2000. We were their first adoptive placement in 2001. We have adopted 11 children total from a total of 6 different foster care adoptions. We have another little guy on the way, whenever they get his stuff done in his state. They are now doing their first international homestudy for us.
The worker came today and was here for a very long time. She is working hard to have our homestudy ready by the end of January or the beginning of February. We will have the rest of our commitment money right about that time too, so that is perfect. :) They are always so great to work with, so a big shout out to Mended Reeds. Our family would have never become what it is without them!
I've got several things I need to get done. At the moment I need to get all our reference letters handed out, because the international calls for more than our normal homestudy update was going to call for. I also need to get Unique, Precious, Brent, and I fingerprinted for our FBI fingerprints, so that is on the list of things. I have to get all of our medical forms filled out. I also am going to go ahead and order original birth and marriage certificates (3 of each) to have ready for our dossier when the time comes. I'm waiting to hear about the phone interviews for AAC. I need to send some other info and forms to Mended Reeds as well. I am waiting to hear back about our fire inspection. I just don't want to forget anything or delay anything, so I have to keep after it.
I've checked Reece's Rainbow's site way too many times today. Brent admitted that he has too. I think we are both secretly afraid that the other one will see our names on the "Committed Families" page before we see it ourselves. I guess seeing the kids on the list made it feel so much more real and seeing it there will make it seem even more real. We are so anxious to see constant forward motion and move things quickly.
Please continue to pray for the kids. Pray that their caregivers will really care for them. Pray that they will take the best possible care of them. Pray that while they don't know true love from parents yet, that they will feel God's love keeping the love in their hearts alive and burning. Pray that Paula will hang on for us to bring her home. Pray that God will strengthen her tiny little body and speak love into her heart. Pray that God will move this process quickly and give us the needed funds as they are needed so that we can bring them home quickly.
The worker came today and was here for a very long time. She is working hard to have our homestudy ready by the end of January or the beginning of February. We will have the rest of our commitment money right about that time too, so that is perfect. :) They are always so great to work with, so a big shout out to Mended Reeds. Our family would have never become what it is without them!
I've got several things I need to get done. At the moment I need to get all our reference letters handed out, because the international calls for more than our normal homestudy update was going to call for. I also need to get Unique, Precious, Brent, and I fingerprinted for our FBI fingerprints, so that is on the list of things. I have to get all of our medical forms filled out. I also am going to go ahead and order original birth and marriage certificates (3 of each) to have ready for our dossier when the time comes. I'm waiting to hear about the phone interviews for AAC. I need to send some other info and forms to Mended Reeds as well. I am waiting to hear back about our fire inspection. I just don't want to forget anything or delay anything, so I have to keep after it.
I've checked Reece's Rainbow's site way too many times today. Brent admitted that he has too. I think we are both secretly afraid that the other one will see our names on the "Committed Families" page before we see it ourselves. I guess seeing the kids on the list made it feel so much more real and seeing it there will make it seem even more real. We are so anxious to see constant forward motion and move things quickly.
Please continue to pray for the kids. Pray that their caregivers will really care for them. Pray that they will take the best possible care of them. Pray that while they don't know true love from parents yet, that they will feel God's love keeping the love in their hearts alive and burning. Pray that Paula will hang on for us to bring her home. Pray that God will strengthen her tiny little body and speak love into her heart. Pray that God will move this process quickly and give us the needed funds as they are needed so that we can bring them home quickly.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Tomorrow
Well tomorrow should mean that our "mailed" application will arrive at Reece's Rainbow (we sent it the fastest possible method lol). Along with it is our application fee for setting us up on their website and a love offering.
Tomorrow we will be having our first visit from our worker to get this homestudy going for the international adoption and also to update our domestic homestudy for our foster care adoption (still waiting on "C" to get home or even for some news on him). I still need to draw out the fire evacuation routes tonight. I really don't like to do those floor plans because they confuse me. We have a 10 bedroom house now, and since the addition of the three bedrooms and multiple other rooms I can't even imagine how much more confusing it will be.
I'm hoping that I will get a call or two from whomever I need to to speak with at About A Child. I need to speak with two different people there to be on our way to being accepted with their agency as well. I have no idea whatsoever as to what is coming next with that. This process is so very different.
I do ask that ,for the few people who know about this blog and might be reading, you please pray for Paula, Ahnja, and Nicholas. I have no idea what their "tomorrow" may be like. I do pray that this process goes speedy quick so we can get them home into a place of love and safety. Please especially pray for Paula. She is in a mental institution. At age 4, upon last report, she was smaller than Julianne by a little bit. I can't imagine Julianne there and it breaks my heart to think of what Paula could be enduring right this very minute. Pray that God will put His arms around them and bring them into my arms soon.
Tomorrow we will be having our first visit from our worker to get this homestudy going for the international adoption and also to update our domestic homestudy for our foster care adoption (still waiting on "C" to get home or even for some news on him). I still need to draw out the fire evacuation routes tonight. I really don't like to do those floor plans because they confuse me. We have a 10 bedroom house now, and since the addition of the three bedrooms and multiple other rooms I can't even imagine how much more confusing it will be.
I'm hoping that I will get a call or two from whomever I need to to speak with at About A Child. I need to speak with two different people there to be on our way to being accepted with their agency as well. I have no idea whatsoever as to what is coming next with that. This process is so very different.
I do ask that ,for the few people who know about this blog and might be reading, you please pray for Paula, Ahnja, and Nicholas. I have no idea what their "tomorrow" may be like. I do pray that this process goes speedy quick so we can get them home into a place of love and safety. Please especially pray for Paula. She is in a mental institution. At age 4, upon last report, she was smaller than Julianne by a little bit. I can't imagine Julianne there and it breaks my heart to think of what Paula could be enduring right this very minute. Pray that God will put His arms around them and bring them into my arms soon.
Friday, January 7, 2011
See Our Next Blessings!
This will be my announcement to all! Nicholas, Ahnja, and Paula are in Eastern Europe. We have committed to adopt them and are SO EXCITED! We can share whenever it comes out on the Reece's Rainbow page. Trying to wait patiently. :) GOD IS SO AMAZING! He continues to bless and we are so excited to receive.
Just Getting Started
We are just starting on our journey to adopt children with Down Syndrome with the help of Reece's Rainbow. Please be patient as we are getting things going. God is blessing us and we are trying to keep up with His pace!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)